Devilish question (cornugon/malebranche)

[Moulin Rogue]

I got the 3e MM2 recently which includes the malebranche devil. I'm kind of confused now because the cornugon devil is in the 3e MM and I thought "cornugon" and "malebranche" used to be two names for the same devil?

Were they two separate devils in 1e? It's been about 15 years since I looked in the 1e MM and I just can't remember.

 

[BOZ]

i'm mighty confused on that one myself... still haven't figured it out. maybe i should copy this thread onto the general discussion board to see if we get more of a response...

 

[Devon]

I remember them being different creatures in the old D&D monster listings -- the cornugon had its special "bone hook" weapon and crouched on a pile of bones, while the malebranche had big horns and a pitchfork.

It's confusing, I imagine, because "cornu" is Latin for "horn."

- Devon

 

[Aloïsius]

It's confusing, I imagine, because "cornu" is Latin for "horn."

Or French for "horned".

Gel-ugon: frozen devils (gel meaning frost).
Barb-az: bearded devils (barbe meaning beard).
Glabre-zu: devil without beard (glabre meaning bearded).

Apparently someone thought French was a good root for Infernal (especially given that there was a real-world French philosopher named Nicolas de Malebranche).

 

[Devon]

a real-world French philosopher named Nicolas de Malebranche

Yeah, I kept running into him while trying to find the root of 'malebranche' on the Web.

I had gone through the fiends years ago with my French and Latin dictionaries puzzling out these names, but they were not, alas, in ready memory access.

- Devon

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

Apparently someone thought French was a good root for Infernal

'Cause of DePlancy's Dictionnaire Infernal, most likely.

 

[demiurge1138]

I think that the reason for the duality is just for flavor. The modern cornugon is quite different from 1st Ed's malebranche. So when the 3E MMII designers needed another devil, they decided to invoke the title of malebranche from the archives to play the nostalgia card. And the modern malebranche has a closer armament and abilities to the original than the modern cornugon does.

Demiurge out.

 

[The Serge]

I remember them being different creatures in the old D&D monster listings -- the cornugon had its special "bone hook" weapon and crouched on a pile of bones, while the malebranche had big horns and a pitchfork.

It's confusing, I imagine, because "cornu" is Latin for "horn."

- Devon

Not quite. You're confusing two devils here from 1ed. The bone hook weapon you refer to was used by the Bone Devil which is now the Osyluth; in that picuture, it's walking around. The crouching devil in 1ed MM was the barbed devil, which is now the Hamatula.

I suppose someone saw the cool name Malebranche and decided to use it for a unique creature rather than go back and rename the Cornugon.

If you look at the new Amnizu, it too is no longer related to its 1ed or 2ed roots.

 

[Devon]

You're confusing two devils here from 1ed. The bone hook weapon you refer to was used by the Bone Devil which is now the Osyluth

Ah, yes, my error. Terribly sorry.

- Devon

 

[BOZ]

I suppose someone saw the cool name Malebranche and decided to use it for a unique creature rather than go back and rename the Cornugon.

i think you might be right.